As usual, environmental issues didn’t get much coverage from the political press during this year’s presidential campaign.

But future environmental policy, especially in regard to climate change and energy policy, were important issues to the country’s environmental groups and the millions of voters they represent.

It has been interesting to read the takes various representatives from environmental groups and environmental-related industry sectors have on President Barack Obama’s re-election Tuesday.

Locally one issue to watch is what’s going to happen to the establishment of the new Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge is intended to be a mix of public lands and private lands protected by conservation easements that would protect key portions of the Everglades headwaters in the Kissimmee River Basin.

The project was announced in 2011 and the first token piece of land formally establishing the refuge occurred last January.

Rick Dantzler told a group of land managers earlier this year that the word from Washington was that any attempts to get money to begin the project in earnest were on hold until after the election.

That’s because at that point it wasn’t clear who was going to be president, which meant it wasn’t clear who was going to be secretary of the interior, which means it wasn’t clear who was going to be head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Who fills these posts is key in the decision of how much money to request from Congress, what lands to buy or whether the project would even go anywhere.

Dantzler is also one of the key players in a campaign called Florida Land and Water Legacy to amend the Florida Constitution in 2014 to secure guaranteed funding for conservation land purchases.

If that effort is successful, the money could be used to match federal funds to make the purchases move quickly and maybe increase the size of the project.

Much of what I received in recent days dealt primarily with climate and energy issues.

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune characterized Obama’s victory as a repudiation of the large amount of anti-Obama campaign funds spent by fossil fuel industries.

He saw Obama’s victory as a mandate to continue action to hold the industries accountable, to continue to oppose toxic pollution of air and water and to work to establish a “clean energy economy.”

Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica urged the next Obama administration to focus more on control of greenhouse gases to reduce the effects of climate change and to oppose the Keystone XL pipeline or any other project that brings “dirty fuels” to the United States and delays the day to break America’s dependence on dirty fuels.

The World Wildlife Fund issued a statement in a similar vein.

The group proposed convening government and business leaders to build support for “a clear plan to deal with climate change,” as well as working to reduce greenhouse gases. That will include discussions during budget negotiations to push supports for clean energy and to end subsidies for fossil fuels.

Although the folks at American Rivers acknowledged the effects of climate change can damage habitatand water quality on rivers through flooding and pollution from overflowing sewer plants, the group also pressed the Obama administration to improve programs to protect rivers from urban pollution, to protect riverine habitat for wildlife and for human recreation.

“They should also help communities bring aging water infrastructure into the 21st century, investing in cost-effective solutions like green roofs and rain-catching street designs to reduce polluted runoff, flooding and sewer overflows,” the statement read. “The Administration should also continue its work to modernize Clean Water Act rules to reduce polluted runoff to streams and rivers by more fairly targeting pollution sources and incorporating advances in technology.”

The National Wildlife Federation emphasized that the effects of climate change can harm wildlife, particularly coastal species.

The federation added Obama’s victory is also good news for efforts to clean up polluted water bodies, such as the Mississippi River and Chesapeake Bay.

I imagine the results will also affect the dispute over tougher water pollution standards in Florida, which business leaders and their allies in state government have opposed.

It wasn’t just the national elections that drew comment.

The Trust for Public Land issued a statement heralding the success of 46 out of 57 state and local ballot measures to raise funds to buy conservation lands.

“From Maine to Texas to San Francisco, we saw voters across the political spectrum say yes to taxes and spending for conservation which helps their communities,” said Will Rogers, the group’s president.

That’s certainly encouraging news for the backers of Florida’s Land and Water Legacy petition.

About This Blog

Tom Palmer is a native Floridian who has spent decades exploring and getting to know Florida’s natural areas and becoming familiar with the diversity of wildlife in the state. He is an avid birdwatcher and butterfly watcher. He also has assisted in many land stewardship projects and occasionally has time to slip into his kayak and explore some more.